By Les Ferguson, Jr.
Columnist
I don’t know what other military branches call it, but whenever two old sailors get
together, the result is sea stories. Today, you are in luck because a sea story of
epic proportions follows.
Operation Earnest Will was the precursor to Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
During the Iran-Iraq war, the US Navy patrolled the Persian Gulf to protect
shipping. Before my ship participated, several of us were sent to Ship’s Self-
Defense Force training.
This school trained us in various small arms and tactics to defend, repel, and
take back the ship if necessary. It was a challenging course, and I completed it
with some good future sea stories to tell.
Our training culminated in a battle between students and instructors. We were
“defending” against a simulated hostile takeover. The battle was fought with
paintball guns, and we were subsequently wiped out.
Fast toward a few months, we cruised on patrol in the gulf. We typically pulled
four-hour duty shifts and fours off. In your off time, you slept or took care of
personal business. This sea story found me dead asleep in the middle of the
night when the call came blasting over the ship-wide sound speaker system.
“Away the ship’s self-defense force.”
That meant getting wide awake, dressed, and rushing to the small arms locker —
all while your heart pounded in overtime. We were told we had been boarded by
terrorist intruders and issued a weapon before starting a sweep of the ship.
I was handed a Remington Model 870 12-gauge pump shotgun. As a Mississippi
boy, I was familiar with that shotgun long before our training experience. But with
adrenaline, fear, and shock coursing through my system, one of the hardest
things I’d ever done was loading it. I dropped shells right and left before finally
getting it loaded. Racking a round was quite sobering.
We moved as a team, clearing spaces as we searched the length and breadth of
the ship. Eventually, we were told to stand down — all was well. As it turned out,
we were never boarded by anyone. Some off-duty sailors were dressed all in
black and playing a game of hide and seek on the ship's superstructure.

I don’t know what happened to those sailors or if their identities were ever known,
but I do know my relief was immense. Had it been my choice, that would have
been enough adrenaline for the six-month cruise.
We all have sea stories in some fashion. Maybe yours are about growing up in a
neighborhood. Or your stories took place on the job or on a university campus.
The fact is, we are each living in a story now. It may be an early chapter or
toward the last chapter. Better yet, each of us also features in someone else’s
story.
As the Apostle Paul said, “…Your lives are a letter written in our hearts; everyone
can read it and recognize our good work among you.”
(2 Corinthians 3:2 NLT)
Make your story and the story of others a good one — blessings to all.